


chosen

by rydellon



Series: fictober 2018 [21]
Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: ;), Costume Parties & Masquerades, Fictober 2018, M/M, day twenty one: masquerade, kyungsoo is not rich, nini is crown prince, same company, too late, wait no it's twenty one i should have done nct
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-22
Updated: 2018-10-22
Packaged: 2019-08-05 16:48:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,235
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16371389
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rydellon/pseuds/rydellon
Summary: kyungsoo wondered how the hell he had been invited to this masquerade party in the first place.typically the most influential, important, and lavishly rich people in the kingdom got invited, bodies flowing with the most expensive fabrics known to man and faces covered with intricately delicate masks made of the smoothest porcelain and fit to their faces like a pure extension of their building.all kyungsoo did was own a bakery.





	chosen

kyungsoo wondered how the hell he had been invited to this masquerade party in the first place.

 

typically the most influential, important, and lavishly rich people in the kingdom got invited, bodies flowing with the most expensive fabrics known to man and faces covered with intricately delicate masks made of the smoothest porcelain and fit to their faces like a pure extension of their being.

 

all kyungsoo did was own a bakery.

 

while his bakery wasn’t along the main route to the castle it was very close and every year he would close up early just to watch people roll up with their carriages and their expensive costumes.

 

it seems this year he would be one of those people.

 

thinking back to this year, nothing really special had happened. his business had gained new customers and new regulars (well, there was this one new regular who came in every week like clockwork, monday, wednesday, and friday at 2:00pm, when the shop was the emptiest, for an espresso and a small box of mixed pastries. he would always smile at kyungsoo and tell him to put his favourites of the day in there. kyungsoo always complied instead of just putting the same thing every day because the man’s smile was addictive and _god_ was he pretty when he smiled at kyungsoo and mouthed a _it’s good, thank you_ in his direction.)

 

nothing strange at all.

 

but here he was, getting invited to prince kai’s annual masquerade ball, the one his parents held to find him a wealthy spouse.

 

kyungsoo had heard stories about prince kai, his dashing looks, his overwhelmingly attractive personality, and his seductive ways. how he could make women get weak in the knees by just glancing at them.

 

and how he never came into town, never strayed further than the palace gardens.

 

kyungsoo didn’t think he sounded that interesting, but who knows, he could find himself a cute (and maybe rich) boyfriend at this party, so what was the harm in not going.

 

he had sent in his rsvp envelope a week before, just putting it into a mailbox to be delivered up to the castle, watching people glance at the envelope and back up to him, wondering who he would be delivering it for.

 

the crisp, pure white envelope couldn’t belong to anyone else, and kyungsoo had broken out the wax seal kit his parents had given him when he moved to the city to seal it.

 

he may or may not have burnt himself on the hot wax, but that was nobody else’s business.

 

the rest of his week had been spent piecing his costume together, going to various stores around town and finally treating himself with the money he had earned from his bakery and getting a nice three piece suit, a dark purple shirt complimenting the pocket square he had picked out along with his mask.

 

his mask.

 

it was a dark purple velvet, standing out against his skin tone. two silver moons surrounded the end curved of the mask, right around his eyes. two midnight black ribbons stemmed from the sides and tied daintily around his head, the stars on the ends of the ribbons traveling down his back. on the edge of the mask strings of purple beads flowed down, reaching about his mid cheek.

 

all in all, he looked damn good.

 

he admired himself in front of the mirror the day of the ball, his shop having closed after two that day.

 

it was a friday, and he had waited until his beautiful regular would usually come before closing.

 

(he didn’t come. kyungsoo had frowned, watching the front of his shop for thirty minutes. he was kind of disappointed, but the anticipation building up inside him had his stomach turning over for another reason.)

 

looking at himself in the mirror, he smoothed his mask down before humming in satisfaction and turning to leave his house.

 

walking up the street alongside the carriages was an experience, seeing people stare at him along with the extravagant carriages.

 

it was kind of making him self conscious, all of the staring, that was, until a carriage pulled up beside him and stopped.

 

“hey, do you need a ride?” a voice called out.

 

kyungsoo froze, looking up to see two hands and some eyes poking out of the carriage.

 

“yeah,” kyungsoo said.

 

the eyes scrunched up, like the person was smiling, and the door swung open, revealing a lush interior covered in soft fabrics and silk.

 

kyungsoo stepped into the vehicle, sitting down before the door swung shut behind him and the noise of horse’s hooves clopping on cobblestone resumed.

 

he had never been in a vehicle before.

 

he lived above his bakery, and the longest journey he had been on was his village to the city, which had been taken by walking and hopping onto people’s horses or their buggies.

 

this was lavish living.

 

the interior was lined with a lapis coloured fur, the seats filled to the brim with soft feathers and engulfed by smooth silk.

 

and his companion.

 

soft features lined his face, his suit jacket (the same colour as the interior) seemed to shine in the low light of the carriage.

 

he was beautiful, and that suit looked like it cost more than kyungsoo’s entire life.

 

along with the fabric it had a black cape and matching black pants, the clasp holding the cape together looked to be a bright blue gem surrounded with silver.

 

“woah,” kyungsoo breathed.

 

the other laughed, sticking out his hand.

 

“i’m baekhyun,” he said, smiling softly at kyungsoo.

 

“kyungsoo.”

 

the two shook hands.

 

“i’m such a big fan of your mask kyungsoo! who was it made by? which designer, i have to know! also, i’ve never heard of you before. what’s your family name? are you new?”

 

baekhyun’s own mask was resting on the bench beside him.

 

it was the same colour as his suit jacket, the blue silk rimmed with a silver trimming and different coloured blue feathers sticking out from above the side of the eyes. 203

 

“oh, uh, i like your mask too! it’s beautiful, i—”

 

“thank you!” baekhyun interrupted, “i got it from privé, such a great company you know. mine. i made it, anyway, you. where’d you get that mask.”

 

“i…i made it myself,” kyungsoo said.

 

“like, your company? seriously, family name?” baekhyun asked again, leaning forward.

 

“no, like, by hand. i made it myself.” baekhyun’s eyes widened.

 

“you made it…yourself?”

 

“yeah. my family name is do. we’re not rich. i own a bakery, my parents live on a farm. i’m not at all…y’know, rich or famous.”

 

kyungsoo pulled at one of his mask’s ribbons, looking at baekhyun’s face for signs that he was going to kick him out of the carriage.

 

“oh! that’s so cool! i thought it was professionally made. wait…how did you get an invite? i thought only like…rich people got invited to this party. fuck, do you have an invitation? do i have to kick you out of my carriage? oh, chanyeol already stopped for me like 15 times shit—”

 

kyungsoo rapidly pulled his invitation out of his pocket and showed it to baekhyun, who calmed down.

 

“mr. byun. we’re here.”

 

“thank you chanyeol!” baekhyun yelled, pressing his mask on and stepping out, joining the flood of people walking up to the castle.

 

as kyungsoo stepped out and got his first real close up glance of the castle, all he could think of was how utterly beautiful it was up close.

 

the amazing stonework on the castle stemmed from the bottom to the top of the tallest tower, the red roofs complimenting the pale gray in the best way. it was utterly beautiful, especially paired with the beautiful people entering.

 

kyungsoo unfroze when baekhyun grabbed his arm to lead them into the venue, eyes still locked on the people and the castle, jumping from attraction to attraction like a child would swing on monkey bars.

 

the inside was even more lavish, the large ballroom not even almost packed to the brim with people, tables with food lining the sides, and waiters going around with different appetizers on trays.

 

kyungsoo realized as everyone filtered in, that he was supposed to be drinking the things coming around on trays.

 

he had been wandering around the room, slightly confused about what was going on, and being pulled into dances left and right, people complimenting him on his suit, his mask.

 

his lips.

 

those people made him uncomfortable, the ones who looked at him like he was something to collect, like he was just another prize to win.

 

he didn’t quite mind being passed around, because he didn’t know what else to expect at these parties. he saw some people reach for their pockets with him in their arms, but was passed on before anything could happen.

 

and then he was snatched up by _him_.

 

there was a wide berth around him, like everyone knew who he was (except kyungsoo apparently), and to be honest, kyungsoo couldn’t blame them.

 

the man was intimidatingly handsome, even if half of his face was covered by a mask.

 

it was delicate, covering one of his eyes down to his cheekbone, circling around his mouth and traveling over the bridge of his nose, but no further, showcasing his beautiful features while still hiding a good part of his face.

 

he was wearing a white vest with a fine, intricate, gold swirl design, a red dress shirt under it, and black pants. a black cape held together with a red gem held in place by gold webbing.

 

he was breathtaking, and kyungsoo froze for a second, tripping over his feet before the man pulled him upright.

 

the taller smiled at him, urging him around the dance floor.

 

“i’m jongin,” he whispered, and kyungsoo stepped closer to him. none of the other people who had snatched him up had told him their name. he felt like he could trust jongin. he felt like he knew jongin.

 

“kyungsoo,” kyungsoo said, eyes still locked onto jongin’s.

 

jongin twisted him around so kyungsoo had to crane his neck to the side to see his face.

 

“i know,” he said, and pulled him into a series of steps.

 

they danced for a long time, other people switching and changing partners on the regular as jongin just continued to dance with him. sometimes kyungsoo would catch other people staring at him, maybe wanting to steal him away from jongin, but they all backed off.

 

he was glad they did.

 

jongin was a phenomenal dancer, moving his body in ways kyungsoo didn’t even know were possible, guiding kyungsoo around the room like the floor was his bitch and he was controlling it. it was amazing in ways kyungsoo couldn’t possibly describe.

 

then jongin pulled him aside, to the edge of the ballroom where it was less crowded, and pulled a choker out of his pocket.

 

looking kyungsoo in the eye, he held it up, letting kyungsoo focus on it before asking him a question.

 

“would you do me the pleasure of letting me put this on you?” he asked, and kyungsoo nodded.

 

“i need you to tell me, kyungsoo,” jongin said, and kyungsoo took in a breath.

 

“yes. yes jongin please.”

 

kyungsoo didn’t know what the hell he was signing up for, but the grin jongin gave him was worth everything he had to do for this decision.

 

jongin carefully fastened it around his neck, and kyungsoo could feel the gold chain on the choker trailing down the top of his spine. the black ribbon had a small, plain gold ring in the middle, a red jewel encrusted “k” hanging down from it.

 

kyungsoo reached up and fingered the k.

 

“why the k?” he asked, and jongin smiled at him, pulling him out of the ballroom silently.

 

kyungsoo let jongin pull him through the castle’s hallways, the two finally stopping when jongin pulled him into a room.

 

a library.

 

kyungsoo had never seen that many books in his life, the room lined ceiling to floor with them, ladders scattered around the walls leading to the higher level books.

 

“beautiful, isn’t it?” jongin said, and kyungsoo turned back to him.

 

“can i take this off?” jongin asked, reaching up to kyungsoo’s cheeks, sliding upwards towards his mask.

 

“yeah,” kyungsoo said, and jongin’s hands slid around to the back of the mask, gently tugging on the ribbons kyungsoo had painstakingly tied into bows.

 

he lifted the mask off of kyungsoo’s face, looking him in the eyes the whole time.

 

“beautiful,” he whispered, and kyungsoo’s gaze flitted away, towards the thousands of books surrounding them.

 

“look back at me,” jongin said, and kyungsoo did.

 

“you asked what that k was for, well, it’s me.”

 

jongin reached up to pull off his mask.

 

“my name is jongin, but most of the population know me as kai. that’s what the k is for.”

 

but kyungsoo didn’t register that. didn’t register the part that the man who had just placed the most beautiful piece of jewelry on his neck to claim him was the crown prince of the country he resided in.

 

all he could focus on was the fact that he _knew this face_.

 

“you’re the boy from the bakery,” kyungsoo whispered, and a wide, beautiful, _familiar_ , smile split onto jongin’s face.

 

“this is why i chose you.”

**Author's Note:**

> DONT JUDGE ME IM WEAK
> 
> this may not flow well, but damn did i need to write this.


End file.
